


Watches, Speaks, Listens, Learns

by Roadrat



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: In a way, Kai's like 16 here don't worry, M/M, this is probs fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 14:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2232210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roadrat/pseuds/Roadrat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things Kai had learnt: avoid and evade<br/>Other things Kai had learnt: stand tall; be unashamed<br/>Things Kai had not done: see above</p><p>Kai is a sixteen year old boy from the Earth Kingdom.  An airbender, a thief and a liar.  He is also, unfortunately, developing a crush.</p><p>(set within canon and diverges at key points).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Watches, Speaks, Listens, Learns

**Author's Note:**

> My inspiration for this fic came from the fact that The Legend of Korra has managed to get onscreen deaths, mental illness, people of colour, women of colour, a titload of emotional and political subtext, and not even one queer character. And it pissed me off. Also, I headcanon Bolin as bisexual. One thing led to another and here we are.
> 
> Kai is sixteen here, and the first chapter and a fair amount of the second chapter take place in the canon. The third and fourth will diverge into a different storyline to make room for all the gay i'm putting in.

The town had an air of being used up, like it continued to exist despite general disapproval, and the people still stayed hoping that some sort of magic would revert it back to a place barely liveable. The buildings were made of compacted earth, and in them lived the family of the people who had lived in them before, so the whole town felt like it was passed on from one generation to the next, like raggedy hand-me-downs, on and on and on forever in a cycle everyone seemed too apathetic about to escape.

Mostly, though, it was boring. The market offered needs, not luxuries. The many derelict, demoralising pubs acted as home to those too sensible to be sober. Even the sun seemed to drag itself lethargically across the sky. The whole place was like a sigh, and everything, from the cracks in the roads to the birds and the clouds, seemed less detailed than it should be.

It had been the boy's home for as long as he could remember, and despite its size he had seen every inch of it. So he knew what he was talking about. From an orphanage, to the streets, then back again to be palmed off to the first couple that thought they could help, the boy had spent sixteen years exploring every crevice in the town. And it was all pretty much the same shade of beige. Excitement came like a nun; not often or never at all. So really, it was a wonder why he had taken so long to decide he needed to leave. The problem with that plan was that he had no idea how.

He shifted his bag further up on his shoulder and stroked his chin absent mindedly. Other than a whisker or two, there was nothing but chin. He wondered absent-mindedly if his beardlessness was a symptom of his perversion, as apparently everything else in his life was. His orphaning, his rough living, his tendency to enjoy the finer things in life, even if those finer things weren't exactly his to enjoy, they all seemed to stem from that one place. Or at least according to those who involved themselves with it. Frankly, the boy didn't care, and all their attacks on things that made him what he was only served to make him prouder. Live unashamed.

And live the way you want to. The boy gripped onto his bag slightly tighter as he walked. He was living how he wanted to right now. He was leaving, the way he had wanted for weeks now. Now he had means, so all he had to do was walk in one direction until the buildings started to look different. That was the plan, that was his escape.

A police officer stepped briskly down the street towards him, turning her head as if she were looking for something. The boy sidestepped into an alley, holding his breath and keeping his head down until she passed. Okay, so perhaps getting out of here wouldn't be as easy as he thought. He gripped his bag tighter, made sure the flap covered the contents completely. They'd be looking for him, he knew that. Why chase murderers when petty thieves were on the loose? The boy sank down to sit in the sidestreet, covering his face with his hands and desperately trying to plan his next move.

He had to get out, that was obvious. But to avoid the police all the way to the town's edge, that would be tough. The boy ran his hands over his head in annoyance. Maybe he would get lucky if he just walked, like he had planned to.

It turned out he did, though not in the way he expected to.

The boy heard shouting as he neared the town centre. There was a spring of sound that leaked out into the rest of the town, giving the buildings around it some hint of colour. People cheered for something, the noise welling up and breaking and splashing into the streets. What few men and women were walking about were looking towards the commotion, some of them were even being drawn in. The boy smiled. The boy was usually smiling, but this time it was for real.

One thing that is obvious to people with sense: crowds are easy to hide in. With a quick glance back through the long streets he had come from, the boy joined the stream of people making their way to the town centre and its ocean of noise. In a place like this, crowds were not common. Granted, travelling performers came sometimes, if they decided making their way to a place so remote was worth the size of the audience, but it was long, long intervals between one visitation and the next. When they did come, it would be the only thing people talked about for weeks. “Were you there to see that firebender group, Lee? They were wonderful, weren't they?” “Did you see the rings of fire they made?” “When do you think they'll come next?” It was like they couldn't remember what they had seen and felt the need to ask everyone else about it. A town full of sorry amnesiacs, as tired as their houses and even less exciting.

And so the boy first saw his escape. He saw an airship, a real one, with turbines and engines and all the things that flying things have. He saw an old man with an impressive physique, with those unmistakable tattoos, airbending around the space the crowd had created for him. He saw a woman in a blue top, with long hair. A woman who introduced herself as the Avatar.

He also saw a man with big arms and a cute nose and a fake moustache.

Really, as perverse as he may be, sometimes it was worth it to see someone like that.

They were asking for new airbenders, people affected by the harmonic convergence. The boy could barely believe what he was hearing. This wasn't luck, this was divine intervention. This was a sign that he should start believing.

Very subtly, checking to make sure everyone else was staring at the performers and not at him, the boy opened his palm and sent a breeze from his hand to his face. This was his escape, his future, his way out. The boy grinned.

The crowd started thinning as they realised they wouldn't see anything more. They buzzed with talk. “The Avatar is so muscular.” “That firebending boy is just so handsome, I wonder if he has a a girlfriend.” “You know, I don't think that announcer's moustache was real.” They'd probably be talking about this until next year. Hell, they'd probably make it a holiday.

As they walked away and bled out into the streets, the boy waved his hand in the air.

“Hey! Hey, Avatar!” He ran to her, standing arms folded in front of the airship. He blew a little air skyward. “I'm an airbender.”

“Oh, woah. Tenzin, there's one here, look,” she said, pointing at him. He realised, with a little twinge of annoyance, that he was a just under half a head shorter than her. He was short, hadn't really grown since he turned fifteen, and it didn't really help his ego. He glanced at the boy with big arms. Tall. Or taller than him, at the very least. He was actually pretty okay with that.

The man called Tenzin clipped a robe round himself and turned to look at the boy, raising one eyebrow. “Ah, so you're interested in learning airbending?”

“Couldn't be more interested, can't wait. In fact, we should probably go right now. You know, because I'm so excited.” The boy grinned at them.

“Well... okay, sure. I'm Avatar Korra. Nice to meet you...”

The boy extended his hand. “Kai,” he said, simply. “Nice to meet you too, Avatar Korra.”

“Kai,” the Avatar repeated. “And just call me Korra.”

Tenzin coughed. “Where are your parents, Kai. We have to inform them of your decision.”

“Oh, well.. I uh... don't really have any.”

The boy with big arms looked at him. “You're an orphan?” he asked. By now he had taken off his moustache and shoved it in his pocket, so the way his nose turned upwards slightly was even more apparent.

Kai nodded. The boy threw one of his big arms round his shoulders. “Us too! Well, me and Mako, not all of us. I'm Bolin, by the way. You're gonna love it with us, it's like a family. A big old, crazy family. Like The Addumbs Family movers! Only less... you know... dead.”

Kai grinned up at him. “Sounds pretty awesome.” There was something about him.

“Oh, it is, it is.” Bolin leaned close in to Kai and stage whispered into his ear. “Mako over there, you see him with the eyebrows? He's Windy Addumbs. The dark one."

“Are you Cousin That?” Kai asked. Bolin laughed. There was definitely something about Bolin.

Kai wanted to get on board quickly. Get this over with. Escape.

“So what happened to your parents?” the dark one, Mako, asked.

“Mako!” Bolin said, scandalised. “Don't ask that.”

“No, it's okay.” Kai paused for a second. He had to think up a story, something clever, something that couldn't possibly get him into trouble.

“It was bandits.”

***

Bandits. What was he thinking? It didn't make sense that they'd still be chasing him after years and years. Of course it would get him into trouble, of course the police would show up. There had been fighting, some accusations. Perhaps a botched escape attempt from Kai. And now he had none of his (stolen) gold and he was sitting at a giant table with six very angry people. And one very betrayed person.

There was something about Bolin that reminded Kai of someone. Too much.

On the other hand, at least he was on an airship floating far, far away from his old town. At least he was finally free in some small way.

So yeah, could have gone better, but it could have gone worse, too.

Kai looked sheepishly at Bolin. There was a deep well of innocence in him that Kai had never seen in someone that age, a sense he gave off that things would turn out for the best. And it was nice, in a weird way. When Bolin had put his arm around Kai, that was nice too. When he made him feel okay, comfortable, it was nice. In a way he didn't want to feel, it was nice.

And now Bolin looked despondent and sad, and Mako (who turned out to be his brother. Who knew?) had his arms folded and looked as if he wished he could set Kai on fire with his mind, and everyone else looked in equal parts angry and disappointed with the new airbending recruit, a sixteen year old orphan boy from the Earth Kingdom.

And it was his fault.

But at least he had gotten away.

“So, Kai,” said Tenzin, breaking the silence that had built up like a fog in the ship. “Do you really want to learn airbending techniques?”

Kai nodded vigorously. “Yeah! Of course I do! Can't wait to learn how to throw air around, you know? Can't wait.” It wasn't even a lie, really.

Tenzin bristled. “Are you being sarcastic with me?”

“What? No!” Kai sighed and stared down at his hands. “I mean, I told you, I think I was given this power for a reason. I know I didn't make a great first impression, but I really, honestly have turned over a new leaf. I had that money... to get away, you know? To start a new life. You guys were just there first.” Kai let quiet settle back into the room for a moment. “Listen,” he said, softly. “I'm sorry. Really, I am -”

“Sorry because you lied to us or sorry you got caught?” Mako said, eyes narrowed.

Kai swallowed. “Sorry I lied to you.” That may have been a lie. But only partially.

“Aw, come on, Mako.” Bolin sniffed. “He's sorry, you can see that right? Korra?”

“Yeah, see? Bolin believes me.”

“Well Bolin isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed,” Mako muttered, arms still firmly crossed.

Bolin turned to his brother, mouth open in outrage. “Hey! That is not cool, Mako.”

“I'm just saying, Bo. You're not the best decision maker.”

“Yeah, well, when I trust my gut I make great decisions!”

“And your gut says we should trust this guy?”

“Totally!”

Mako snorted.

“Guys, hey,” Kai sai, raising his arms. “I'm not a kid, okay? I'm not gonna do anything stupid again. And you guys must know what it's like when you don't have parents, right? When you live on the streets, you do stuff that isn't exactly legal.”

“But you weren't living on the streets, were you?” Mako hissed. “You had a nice little foster family that trusted you and you used that to your advantage!”

Kai gave a lopsided smile. “It's difficult to adjust.”

Mako clenched his jaw at that, staring at Kai like he was something he was something he desperately wanted to clean away. The room was heavy with things left unsaid, and things about to be said, and things that couldn't be packaged neatly into words and instead floated like airborne viruses, ready to infect who they could, to grow and reproduce inside someone.

“I don't want this creep anywhere near us,” Mako said, decisively.

Bolin squeaked. It was an odd little noise that no one really expected, and the entire table turned their heads as one to look at him.

“No! Korra, you're the Avatar. Tell Mako he's being an ass.”

“Mako, you're sort of being an ass,” Korra said, resting her head in one palm. “It's not like he killed someone, and he's the first airbender we've got to come with us. Everyone deserves a second chance.”

“Oh, so now you're gonna act all Avatar?”

“Hey!” Korra said, angrily, pointing at Mako. “I always act Avatar because I _am_ the Avatar!” She lowered her finger like it was a weapon. “Besides, it's really Tenzin and Jinora's decision. They're the ones who are gonna train him.”

Mako turned his attention to the airbenders. “You can't be serious about him, right? He's a thief, _and_ a liar! He betrayed the people who cared about him!” Kai winced.

“Mako, please be reasonable,” Tenzin replied. “I believe Kai can come with us as long as he trains well and doesn't act out again. Besides, we already told the police in his town we would take him.”

Jinora nodded. “We can't just let him go, Mako. He's our first airbender.”

Bolin cheered the same time that Mako made a disgusted sound at the back of his throat. Pushing himself from the table, Mako got up and left, leaving Kai to sigh a small sigh of relief and melt into the back of his chair.

Tenzin rose. “Kai, your room will be next to Jinora's. She'll lead you there. We'll reach Ba Sing Se in about a week, so until then you are to remain on this ship and train with me and Jinora. Is that understood?”

Kai nodded dumbly, watching the group of people disperse from around the table. Bolin beamed at him, giving him a thumbs up he felt obligated to return. There was something about that boy, about the way Kai felt he could trust him. It terrified him.

Jinora tugged at his jacket and asked him to follow her, smiling sweetly. They left together and disappeared into the ship's viscera.

***

The night came delicately, like gentle fingers, cross-stitching its own darkness into the day's horizon until all that could be seen were the stars far above and the lights of houses far below. Kai stared through the porthole of his dim room, feeling the drone of the airship's engine in his bones and wondering how that noise somehow, unfathomably, meant that this giant steel machine could float with nothing around it except the air and the dark and the night. A small electric lamp coughed out orange light and cast dark shadows around his body, but other than that, a bed and a bedside table, there was nothing in this room.

It was probably late enough to sleep, but even through a haze of tiredness he hadn't been able to close his eyes and rest.

There was something about Bolin.

Kai fell backwards onto his bed. There was once a boy he met in the orphanage, before he ran away. They had been about fourteen, almost fifteen, some age between knowing for sure and wanting to know. And he had these long, thin fingers, dexterous fingers for playing instruments with. When the evening came he would collect the worn ehru his mother had left him and play quiet lullabies to Kai in the boy's room.

His fingers weaved the music into a net, and Kai fell into it. The world would stay silent while he played, or while he spoke, but he hardly ever spoke. He would smile and then the world was dark, and he would brush up against him and the world was gone. Kai would whisper things, he wasn't sure what, all through the time he began playing until he stopped. He never knew if the boy heard him. It didn't seem to matter.

Kai felt comfortable with him, more than in his own skin. And one night came when, listening to the boy play, Kai had felt comfortable enough to kiss him. And for one second, when he closed the gap and he pressed his lips against the boys, for that one chaste second, he was happy. When he pulled away to see the boy's face and smile, the boy told him he should leave.

Whispers followed him like the voices of ghosts the next day, and the net that the boy wove unravelled into a stave. When the woman who ran the orphanage had called Kai into her office for a talk about needing to understand oneself, knowing that there are choices that one shouldn't make, hoping that Kai would realise there are natural things and unnatural things, Kai had taken the boy's advice and left. For almost eight months he lived on the streets and supported himself, mostly through pickpocketing and scams, sometimes through honest labour. And when, finally, he had to return, too thin and coughing, too ill to stay on his own and alive, he was kept for as long as it took to get better and then palmed off into a foster family. They were eager to get rid of him, and Kai was eager to be rid of them. He never saw the boy again.

You are your own person, you support yourself, and you live unashamed of who you are. That's what he learned in that year and a bit. And really, a family with that much gold stored away was begging to have it stolen eventually.

The point was, in an odd way, in a way Kai couldn't exactly explain, Bolin reminded him of that boy. And now he was older, now he knew better, Kai didn't want to be wrapped up in those dramatics again. It had been fine when he was just a muscular dude with a cute nose. But now he protected him, he laughed and cheered for him, he almost cried for him. Kai wanted to escape.

With a little 'ugh' sound, Kai raised his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes.

And opened them again when a knock came at the door.

“Yeah, hello?”

The door opened soundlessly, and stood silhouetted past the threshold stood Mako. Without a word, he walked in and placed his hands on his hips.

Kai sat up. “So,” he said. “Mako. How can I help?”

“I don't know what you're planning here, but I'm watching you, alright? I don't know why, but I can't exactly trust a guy who'd steal the life savings of people who gave him a place to stay. And,” he said the word 'and' forcefully, holding up a finger as Kai began to open his mouth. “If you do anything to hurt my little brother or any of my friends, anything to make him suffer... I don't know, I just can't be help responsible for my actions. Understood?”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Yes, sir, Mako, sir,” he said, whipping his arm up to salute. “Not a thing, on the straight and narrow, yada yada yada."

Mako's eyebrows furrowed slightly. For a second it looked like he was about to say something else, before thinking better of it and turning on his heel to walk out the door. He closed it quietly behind him.

The night kept its silent watch through the porthole of Kai's room. Kai fell back onto his bed. His thoughts roiled and never stopped.

 


End file.
